I'm not going to blame the players themselves for not being of NRL standard. Do we blame the coach for selecting them? Do we blame an injury toll for a player being selected? Are there selection alternatives?
Here are my players that I don't believe are NRL standard:
Blair - Has potential but his defence is diabolical! A real jersey grabber and yet he is a big bloke. He was a dodgy selection on the wing. Playing him in the centres is insane. I think he needed a year in NSW cup to prepare him. I blame SK here. His missed tackle on Nightingale was crucial last week.
Morgan - bad hands, minimal evasiveness, ok defence. Tries hard. I'm hoping his selection has been forced by injuries
Lasallo - Seems to be bound for long term in NSW Cup - didn't understand his selection.
I don't blame these players. They don't select themselves. Who are the alternatives? Maybe Ben Smith and Horo in the centres in the short term (like last year)
I will balance my bnlog by naming some players who have surprised me this year.
Keating - never considered him to be NRL klevel. He's not a matchwinner but has gone well in a dud team this year.
Sio - Better player than I gave him credit for. A good season thus far for him.
Ryan - An absolute revelation. I think we are on to a winner with him. A good offload, good step and evasiveness, gives his all. Needs to be re-signed as a matter of urgency.
Thoughts?
Replies
My concern coming into this season was our centres. So much so, that it was the one quesion I asked of Kearney at the Fan Forum because to me it was pretty obvious we were going into the season way too light with experience in that position. Basically we had ONE player who was a recognised centre in the entire club. Kearney clearly put way to much faith in Tonga and got his pants pulled down when Loko got injured and Tonga showed why he played most of his career in the Queensland Cup.
I'll defend Ryan Morgan all day, quite frankly. He made one handling error when put under immense pressure. He's in his second season and his first as a pretty regular starter in the centres. Centre is the toughest position on the park defensively - you don't learn how to do it overnight.
Cheyse Blair never got the opportunity to do the usual start in NYC, move into Wenty and learn a bit about playing with the big boys. He's doing tremendously well in my opinion.
No body ever gives credence to how much of a blow it was for Parra to lose Loko. There were two things we couldn't afford to happen this year. We couldn't lose one of our starting centres or lose Hayne. Before a ball was kicked off, we lost both. Kearney got himself into a bad place with our outside backs - we needed a player like Wright who had gone through his learning phase as a backup. By next year, Ryan Morgan will be that player but only freakish kids can come into the centres and cope immediately. We've had to cope with having often two to three rookie outside backs on the park at the same time, and honestly there just hasn't been any alternatives.
Agree with most of what you've said but some caution regarding Loko.
1. After the injuries he's suffered over the last year or so, he may come back a totally different proposition. If he loses some of his speed (highly likely) or is overly tentative (to be expected) he won't be much use to us.
2. A lot of the time his defense was'nt what you'd call NRL standard. Definitely not much better than Morgan, Blair etc if at all.
Phil,
Centres was my major concern from the start of season also, but Kearney has to take responsibility for this one. He chose to let Reddy go (was never offered a contract) on the basis of Loko (half a dozen game rookie) being a success and wasting money on Esi Tonga and Tautai. He could have kept Reddy and had Willie Tonga as his first choice centres with Loko as back up. Loko showed some potential but still hadn't learnt to pass or set up his winger. He just relied on strength. He needs a full season NSW Cup to develop those skills. No matter what people thought of Reddy, he is much better than the people Kearney chose over him. Choosing to release an experienced centre and rely on unproven rookies and another injury prone experienced centre was always a flawed plan.
Great post Shire Eel, especially regarding the release of Joel Reddy.
Even Todd "Tinks Misses You" Lowrie scored a double!
Bring him back as a centre!
LMAO -- KEARNEY IS PROBABLY COLLECTING MONEY FROM THE STORM TO ENSURE THE EELS FAIL !!!!
He wouldn't be afforded an opportunity to coach an under 20s side, let alone a first grade team anywhere in the world. This is his final contract, he will go down in history as our worst ever coach
SK sacked our defence coach and now he has turned Sharks into one of the better defensive teams (after being one of the worst last year).
Hindy
Burt
McGuire
And players that are on the decline
Maitua
Fui
W.tonga
B. smith
And players who are just plain old shithouse
Horo
Roberts
E. tonga
Toutai
Shack
Poore
And you now have your reason why the team is coming stone cold dead last
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